Prince William Honors Staffer in ‘Scream’ of a ‘Message to Harry and Meghan
The festivities didn’t stop with King Charles III’s coronation on May 6. Following his father’s crowning, Prince William honored Jason Knauf, a former palace staffer linked to bullying accusations against Meghan Markle. A commentator says Knauf’s honors “scream” the Prince of Wales’ approval.
Prince William made Jason Knauf a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order on May 10
The royal family returned to business as usual on May 10 with a Windsor Castle investiture (via Twitter). William presided over the ceremony, handing out honors to a number of recipients. Among them, Knauf, William’s former palace aid and current trustee of the Earthshot Prize, which William founded in 2020.
William named Knauf a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) as part of King Charles’ New Year Honours List. Photos from The Mirror showed William and Knauf sharing a few words and shaking hands during the ceremony.
Commentator says honors ‘scream that William is pleased’ with Jason Knauf despite Harry and Meghan ‘hurt’
“It sends quite a message, William bestowing such high honors on a man who’s most famous for taking sides against Meghan Markle,” royal commentator Kristen Meinzer said (via Newsweek).
Knauf wrote a 2018 email as a then-Kensington Palace communications secretary. In it, he expressed concern about the Duchess of Sussex allegedly bullying staff. The email’s contents became public in March 2021, shortly before Meghan and Prince Harry’s March 2021 Oprah interview.
At the time, the couple’s team called it a “calculated smear campaign.” Buckingham Palace subsequently launched an independent inquiry into the bullying allegations. However, the findings remain private.
“It also makes clear that Jason Knauf’s allegiance was always first and foremost to William,” the former Royal Report podcast co-host continued. “As Harry said in his Netflix series, Knauf worked for William before, during, and after his time assisting the House of Sussex.”
“And these newest honors scream that William is pleased with that work — however much it may have hurt his brother and sister-in-law,” Meinzer added.
In the final episode of Netflix’s Harry and Megan docuseries, William was accused of giving Knauf the go-ahead to speak out before an Associated Newspapers lawsuit ended. It involved the British tabloid Mail on Sunday publishing a letter Meghan wrote her father, Thomas Markle.
“When we were just about to go the court of appeal, a senior member of [William’s] team [Jason Knauf] came forward to give his witness statement, which wasn’t required,” Jenny Afia, attorney to the Sussexes, said. “And, sadly, there’s just no way he could have done that without the authority of his bosses.”
Knauf denied the allegations. Meanwhile, Meghan went on to win the lawsuit.
Another royal family employee Harry and Meghan clashed with receives King Charles honor
Knauf isn’t the only royal staffer to receive special honors. Sir Edward Young, who is retiring after 19 years of working in the royal household, per The Times, is becoming a Lord-in-Waiting. Since the queen died, Young’s worked for King Charles as a special adviser.
Principal private secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth II from 2017 until her death, Young’s also been named a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order by King Charles.
The Duke of Sussex’s clashes with the now-Lord Young regarding his and Meghan’s stepping down as senior “working” royals, supposedly keeping Harry from seeing the queen, and the issue of security, among others.
Despite no outright mention in Harry’s Spare memoir, various reports have matched Young to the duke’s description of the courtier known as “The Bee.”
In a statement announcing his retirement, Young said he looks “ forward to staying in close contact in [the] years ahead” as he “venture[s] beyond the Palace gates.”
